


love me, love me (say you still love me)

by ravenbranwyn



Series: RWBY [21]
Category: RWBY
Genre: Established James Ironwood/Roman Torchwick, Implied/Referenced Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Multi, Past Qrow Branwen/James Ironwood, Past Qrow Branwen/Roman Torchwick, Polyamory, Polyamory Negotiations, Primrose AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-20
Updated: 2019-05-20
Packaged: 2020-03-08 13:35:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,789
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18895654
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ravenbranwyn/pseuds/ravenbranwyn
Summary: So he squared his shoulders, swayed a little as he walked up the steps and knocked on the apartment door. He listened to the uneven footsteps approaching and let his face relax into a smirk.Or, the one where Qrow shows up drunk to James' house looking for a hookup and instead finds both of his exes and then gains two boyfriends.





	love me, love me (say you still love me)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Nyocturne](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nyocturne/gifts).



> based on [a set of headcanons i wrote](https://irnqrw.tumblr.com/post/184607249364/ironwoodromanqrow-forgot-the-ship-name)  
> and part of the [primrose au](https://irnqrw.tumblr.com/post/184956747924/whats-the-primrose-au-o)

Qrow was...well not  _ drunk.  _ Not yet, at least. He was definitely tipsy enough to not walk straight, but he wasn’t blacking out. He rolled his shoulders and sighed, staring up at the apartment building James stayed in whenever he was in Vale. He’d seen him with his own eyes today, still as tall and strong and imposing as the day they’d broken up, and he knew he would be in the apartment he always stayed in. So he squared his shoulders, swayed a little as he walked up the steps and knocked on the apartment door. He listened to the uneven footsteps approaching and let his face relax into a smirk.

~~~~

Whoever James might have been expecting to find at his door at 2 am, Qrow was nowhere near the top of the list. Ozpin maybe, or Glynda. Neo’s friends even. But not Qrow. As he swung the door open and caught sight of red eyes though, he knew this would be a difficult night. Qrow leaned against the door frame and gave James a familiar, dark smile that sent him back two decades to a Vytal Festival nearly forgotten. 

“Hey, Jimmy,” he practically purred at him and took a swaying step forward. James felt a migraine coming on and just kept himself from sighing.

“Hello, Qrow,” he replied. He led him into the living room and knew the instant he spotted Roman, because he went very stiff and still beside James.

“Torchy?” he croaked. Roman smiled at him, soft and unsure.

“Hey Qrow,” he said. He slowly reached out and took his hand to tug him to the couch, standing as he did. James watched Roman get Qrow settled down and pull the blanket off the back of the couch to wrap around him. “You can stay here tonight, if you’d like,” he offered, reaching out and hesitating with his hand hovering over Qrow’s head. Qrow responded with a grunt and falling to his side, already passing out. Roman walked over to James and wrapped his arms around him. He sighed.

“What do we do about... _ this _ ?” James asked, running a hand through Roman’s hair. Roman tilted his head into it.

“We let him sleep for now and then we tackle it tomorrow,” he said. “Now, I’m tired and we still have to explain to Neo who he is on the off-chance he sticks around until morning.”

~~~~

Roman woke up first. He laid there for a few moments before remembering Qrow. He slipped out of bed with a kiss on James’ cheek and crept into the living room. The sun wasn’t up yet, but a quick glance around the room showed no sign of Qrow. He tugged on his hair a little, sighed, and went to make coffee.

A little bit later, James wandered into the kitchen with Neo trailing a couple paces behind. She looked around and raised an eyebrow at Roman when she saw no sign of Qrow. She tilted her head to the side as her hands moved, “Where is he?” James reached out to ruffle her hair.

“He probably left as soon as he woke up, Prim. He does that.” His voice was a little sad and Roman took his hand to press a kiss to his knuckles, while Neo leaned her head into the one on her head. They all sat quietly for a minute. Neo cleared her throat to get their attention.

“What is he to you?” she asked, hands moving slower than usual. James’ grip on Roman’s hand tightened for a moment and Roman knew he was remembering all the time he’d been with Qrow. Roman kept a tight lid on those memories, trying not to sour the rose-tinted scope with hindsight.

“A friend,” James whispered. Roman knew he didn’t have to provide an answer, Neo had been there for a good chunk of his relationship with Qrow. He did anyway.

“A past love,” he said. Neo nodded.

“Prim,” James started, but she cut him off.

“You guys still love him, right?” she asked. “You wouldn’t have let him into the apartment with me and Dad if you didn’t trust him at least a little. And you wouldn’t have let him stay if you didn’t care for him.” James blanched and quickly looked over at Roman.

“Prim, I love your dad --” he started but again she cut him off.

“You can love multiple people, Papa.” He glanced at Roman again.

“We can talk to him about it,” Roman suggested. “But only if you’re okay with it, Neo,” he said pointedly. She playfully rolled her eyes at him.

“Yes, Dad, I’m fine with it. I want you to be happy, and if being with Qrow would make you guys happy then I want you to go for it.” She bumped James’ shoulder with her knuckles. “And don’t even try lying to me, old man, I saw the soft look in your eyes when you were telling me he was on the couch last night.” James smiled at her.

“Yeah, okay. We can go talk to him later. For now, though, let’s eat breakfast and talk about how we want to do this.”

~~~~

Qrow was facedown on his shitty couch, in his shitty apartment, feeling like. Well.  _ Shit. _ His head was pounding, his stomach was turning, and his mouth felt like it had been vigorously scrubbed with sandpaper and then stuffed with cotton, and to boot he felt stupidly embarrassed. How could he be so stupid? Of course James had a new partner, of course he wasn’t single, and of course he had to make a fucking fool of himself showing up drunk in front of not one, but two of his exes.

As he laid there wallowing, a knock came from the door. He sighed and buried his face further into the couch cushions hoping that if he didn’t respond, whoever it was would just go away.

_ Knock knock knock. _

No such luck, apparently. He silently prayed that it wasn’t Glynda come to hunt him down for not being at Beacon yet and maneuvered himself up and off the sofa. He pulled the door open, winced at the bright fluorescent lighting streaming in, and squinted at the pair of figures in his doorway. Roman came into focus first and gave him a warm smile.

“Hey, Qrow,” he said. James nodded at him and Roman gently elbowed him in the side. “Mind if we come in and talk?” Qrow mutely shook his head and stood aside to let them in. Too late he remembered the empty bottles cluttering the floor and table and his dirty clothes laying around the room. He winced again and felt his face flush hot in embarrassment. For a minute he considered taking off, but the two of them together knew all his hideouts and haunts and it would just be prolonging the inevitable  _ “We’re together and don’t want you bugging us again”  _ talk. 

When he walked back into the living room he found James slowly collecting bottles and setting them in the seldom-used recycling bin and Roman picking up his clothes and depositing them in the hamper. He cleared his throat.

“You guys don’t have to do that. I’m a grown man,” he said. Roman looked up, startled, and glanced down at the handful of laundry he had.

“Sorry. Old habits die hard, I suppose. I’m so used to picking up after Neo it’s kind of a second nature,” he said with a slight laugh. Qrow relaxed a little.

“How is Neo? She still as high-strung as I remember?” he asked. Roman smiled brilliantly at him and rushed over, Scroll in hand.

“She’s letting her hair grow out now and Qrow she’s just the cutest thing! She’s been talking about cutting it off soon and of course that’s her decision but her hair is just so beautiful,” Roman babbled, swiping through pictures of Neo. It was familiar and easy and almost enough to make Qrow forget why they were there. He began to fish his own Scroll out of his pocket to show Roman pictures of Ruby and Yang and their teammates when James cleared his throat.

“Roman?” he said softly. Roman froze and the happy light in his eyes dimmed for a moment.

“Yes, of course. Why don’t you sit down, Qrow? We want to talk to you about something.” Qrow’s veins filled with ice and his heart pounded an uneven beat in his ears.

“Yeah, ‘course.” He settled down on the couch, keeping his limbs as close to himself as possible, not wanting to risk brushing knees or hands or elbows with Roman or James. They all sat in silence for a minute until Roman suddenly waved his hands around.

“Okay, this won’t do at all. Qrow, we came to talk about last night,” he began. Qrow opened his mouth to reply but Roman held a finger up. “Up-up-up, I’m not finished! Last night, after you showed up and passed out on our couch, we went to bed without really talking about it. This morning though, when I woke up, I realized how much I wanted you to still be on that couch. Neo made us both admit that we still have feelings for you. I’ve always known that but Mr. Repressed Military Man here apparently did not. Or he did and just denied it to himself.

“But Qrow, we came here asking if you’d like to try something. Being with both of us. You wouldn’t have to move in right away or even at all, you wouldn’t have to give up your job or anything at all.” James picked up from there.

“Qrow, I’ve been in love with you since the moment I saw you at the Vytal Tournament twenty years ago. When we broke up those feelings didn’t go away, but I allowed my bitterness over them to pollute them. If you would be willing to, I-  _ we  _ would love to have you.” Qrow struggled with the idea of words and sat there staring as his mind screamed different things at him. Roman smiled at him, hopeful and warm, and James watched him with a steady gaze. Qrow dropped his eyes to his shaking hands and clasped them together for a moment and closed his eyes. He gave a shaky breath out and looked up to meet their eyes.

“Yes. If you’re serious, if you’ll have me. Yes,” he whispered. They both lit up and Roman took his hands, pressing kisses to the knuckles as he did. Qrow felt himself relaxing slowly as Roman tugged him into his arms. James moved himself to Qrow’s other side and embraced him and Qrow felt his world realign.

For now, he would let himself have this.

**Author's Note:**

> Micah's birthday was the other day and I wanted to write them something!!! In this house we stan Ironmagpie.  
> Also yes, my prose for Qrow _is_ very dramatic.


End file.
